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Posts for: January, 2019

Dental veneers, thin layers of porcelain bonded to chipped, stained or slightly crooked teeth, are an effective and affordable way to transform your smile. Their color, translucence and shape blend so well with the rest of your teeth that it's often difficult to tell them apart.

But traditional veneers have one drawback: although they're less than a millimeter in width, they can still appear bulky on unprepared teeth. To help them look more natural, we often have to remove some of the enamel layer from the tooth surface. Enamel doesn't grow back, so this alteration is permanent and the prepared teeth will require a restoration from then on.

But you may be able to avoid this—or at least keep the alteration to a minimum—with no-prep or minimal-prep veneers, two new exciting choices in cosmetic dentistry. About the width of a contact lens, we can bond these much thinner veneers to teeth with virtually no preparation at all or, in the case of a minimal-prep veneer, needing only an abrasive tool to reshape and remove only a tiny bit of the enamel.

These ultra thin veneers are best for teeth with healthy enamel, and can be placed in as few as two appointments. And besides being less invasive, the procedure is reversible—we can remove them and you can return to your original look without any follow-up restoration. One caveat, though: because of the strong bonding process used, it's not always easy to remove them.

Although their thinness makes it possible to avoid or minimize alterations, there are some dental situations like oversized teeth that may still require extensive tooth preparation. With some poor bites (malocclusions) orthodontic treatment to straighten the teeth may also be needed first.

All in all, though, no-prep or minimal-prep veneers could help you avoid the permanent tooth alteration that usually accompanies their thicker cousins. What's more, you'll have the beautiful, transformed smile that veneers can achieve.

Like other healthcare providers, your dentist keeps records of your ongoing care. These include not only their written notes but also x-ray imaging, frequency of visits and cleanings, and any medical information that could affect your care. What’s more, they have a legal obligation to maintain these records.

Your dental records help guide decisions about your care. In that regard, you should consider something else—you may need to change providers: your dentist retires or you move; your dentist isn’t in your new insurance network; or, unfortunately, you have an “irreconcilable” difference with your provider.

If that happens, it’s very important your dental records find their way to your new provider. Here are 3 reasons why.

Your individual dental history. Each person’s dental situation and needs are unique. Your past records help clue in your new dentist about your past history and current needs, which will help guide how they treat you.

Time and money. Your dental records contain x-rays or other diagnostic information about your oral condition, including preparations for any upcoming dental work. If you change dentists before completing that treatment, your new dentist may have to start over with new diagnostic tests if they don’t have this previous data. It could cost you more money and make you wait longer for a needed procedure.

Coordinating dental care with your general health. Your mouth isn’t isolated from the rest of your body, and some dental treatment measures could affect other health conditions (and vice-versa). If your new dentist knows other health issues you may have from your previous records, it can help ensure you’re getting dental treatment appropriate to your overall health.

For the most streamlined transition between providers, it’s important your dental records follow you. You’re entitled to having those records transferred, and, if you’re uncomfortable asking yourself, your new provider can obtain them for you. Just be sure to ask.

Along with periodontal (gum) disease, tooth decay poses one of the two greatest threats to your teeth. Cavities are just the start: if decay invades the pulp, the tooth’s innermost layer, the infection created can continue to advance through the root canals to the supporting bone. This worst case scenario could cost you your tooth.

But we can stop this advanced decay in its tracks with a procedure called a root canal treatment. A root canal essentially removes all the infected tissue within the tooth and then seals it from further infection. And contrary to its undeserved reputation for being painful, a root canal can actually stop the severe tooth pain that decay can cause.

At the beginning of the procedure, we deaden the affected tooth and surrounding tissues with local anesthesia—you’ll be awake and alert, but without pain. We then isolate the tooth with a dental dam of thin rubber or vinyl to create a sterile environment around it to minimize contamination from bacteria found in saliva and the rest of the mouth.

We then drill a small hole through the enamel and dentin to access the interior of the tooth. With special instruments, we remove and clean out all the diseased or dead tissue in the pulp chamber and root canals. After disinfecting the empty spaces with an antibacterial solution, we’ll shape the root canals to make it easier to perform the next step of placing the filling.

To fill all the root canals and pulp chamber, we typically use a rubber-like material called gutta-percha. Because it’s thermoplastic (“thermo”—heat; “plastic”—to shape), we can compress it into and against the walls of the root canals in a heated state to fully seal them. This is crucial for preventing the empty tooth interior from becoming re-infected. Afterward, we’ll seal the access hole with its own filling; later, we’ll bond a permanent crown to the tooth for additional protection and cosmetic enhancement.

After the procedure you may have some temporary minor discomfort usually manageable with aspirin or ibuprofen, but your nagging toothache will be gone. More importantly, your tooth will have a second chance—and your dental health and smile will be the better for it.

Those unattractive teeth you see in the mirror are what are standing between you and a truly beautiful smile. If only you could make them go away.

In a way, you can do just that—with dental veneers. For the past three decades dentists have been covering the imperfections of problem teeth with these thin layers of porcelain. What's more, they're usually less involved and expensive than other restorations.

Veneers work best on teeth with moderate flaws like chipping, heavy staining or wearing, or slight misalignments like crookedness or gaps. The dental porcelain used is a ceramic material that so closely mimics the color and translucence of natural teeth it often takes a trained eye to notice any difference.

The first step to getting veneers is to plan your new look with a full examination and a diagnostic mock-up, a temporary application of tooth-colored filling materials applied directly to the teeth. This gives you and your dentist a better visual idea of how veneers will look on your teeth, and to make any adjustments ahead of time. A dental lab will use these findings to create your custom veneers.

In the meantime we'll prepare your teeth to accommodate your veneers. Although they're usually only 0.3 to 0.7 millimeters thick, veneers can still appear bulky when placed straight on the teeth. To adjust for their width we usually must remove some of the teeth's surface enamel so the veneers look more natural. Because enamel can't be replaced, the removal permanently alters the teeth and will require some form of restoration from then on.

When the veneers are ready we'll attach them with special cement so they'll form an almost seamless bond with the teeth. You'll then be able to use them just as before—but with a little caution. Although quite durable, veneers can break under too much force, so avoid biting on hard objects like ice, hard candy or nuts. And be sure you practice good dental care on your veneered teeth with daily brushing and regular dental cleanings and checkups.

The end result, though, is well worth the upkeep. Porcelain veneers can rejuvenate your smile and provide you a new level of confidence for years to come.

While many people still consider dental implants the "new kids on the block" in dental restoration, they're now in their fourth decade of use. And since their inception implant technology has continued to improve and revolutionize how we replace missing teeth.

Implants are a different "species" compared to other restoration methods. To be precise, an implant is a tooth root replacement—usually a titanium metal post imbedded directly into the jaw bone. Titanium is not only a biocompatible metal, but bone cells naturally grow on its surface to create a strong and durable hold. It's this secure hold that's most responsible for implants' high long-term success rate.

But we should also credit some of this success to the steady stream of advances over the years in implant construction and supporting technologies. For one thing, we're now more accurate and precise with implant placement thanks to advances in computer tomography (CT) and cone beam CT (CBCT) scanning.

These digital processes merge a series of images taken by a special camera to form a three-dimensional model of the jaw. We can manipulate this model on a computer monitor to view it from different vantage points. It can help us locate and avoid anatomical structures like nerves and sinuses when determining where to place a future implant. CT and CBCT are especially useful when there's a concern about adequate available bone, a necessity for stable implants.

Technology has also improved how we create surgical guides, often used during implant surgery to obtain the most accurate results. Surgical guides are custom-made devices that fit over the teeth with the drilling locations for the implants marked on them. Recent advances in 3-D printing have made these guides even more accurate so that they fit more securely in the mouth. This greater stability increases their accuracy during the drilling sequence during surgery.

These and other advances are helping ensure every implant is a success story. The end result is both a functional restoration and a beautiful smile.